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The Longest Journey...
When Nano wakes up from his slumber, he finds a messenger hawk waiting patiently at the window. The message that it held was from Marco, telling Nano that he had found his village. However there was something strange about it. Marco included a map that would lead Nano to him and awaits his arrival. Going downstairs to let Nilmurasi know about his planned trip, Nano finds Leran, Mae, Rae, and Adam playing around in the Foyer. It seemed that she was starting to get along with her new extended family. He then goes to the throne room where Leran said Nilmurasi would be. There he walks in on a conversation about the Abyssal Cartel having possibly infiltrated the city. Nano tells Nilmurasi about Marco requesting help, but he then was surprised to hear that the wedding was tomorrow. After some thought, Anji decided that he will put the wedding on hold until they get back. The two then left the room to tell Leran and Lisa that they were going and that they had to stay. Lisa was easily convinced, but it took a moment for Leran to come around. After they said their goodbyes, the two set out from the city to the windmill outside Colai. When they arrived at Colai, Nano finds another strange occurrence here. This time there were several floating, heart-shaped stones scattered about the village. Nilmurasi touched one, but was immediately thrown with an electrical shock and then a voice in the sky said "You are not the one to rebuild the world". However when Nano touches one of the stones, his mind is suddenly filled with information about a different person depending on the stone he touched. Deciding to leave the village the way it is for now, Nilmurasi leads Nano to the back of the windmill. There, the two enter a hidden gate in the wall between two barrels. On the other side they find that they are in the conduit known as Valley of Free Thunder. As they continue on their way, the two being talking about mating. Nilmurasi tells Nano that in order for her to mate, she has to be in her true form and she feared that he would no longer love her if Nano seen her true form. To remove any doubt between them, Nano asks her to transform into her true form. Reluctantly doing so Nilmurasi transforms, Nano then proves that he still loves her with tender words and a loving embrace. Shortly after that exchange of affections, Nano finds something growing inside of him. Aura tells him that it's some kind of egg made of pure power. Continuing on their journey, they soon find themselves beset by seven demon hunters out to take Nilmurasi's life. Nano tries to reason with them, until he learns that they are paid to take demon lives and that they begin transforming into monsters to finish the job. He then calls Rashjari who gladly finishes them off with little effort. After the battle, Nano starts to question his beliefs. He believes he is a hypocrite for taking their lives despite telling Leran than every life is valuable. Nilmurasi comforts Nano and tells him that sometimes to save life, you have to take life. After a few hours the two come to a mysterious rest stop, complete with a couple benches and a fountain. Both Nano and Nilmurasi were weary of it, but decided to rest anyways. Then after a short respite, the two picked up their journey. Eventually they are stopped by a large boulder in the middle of the road. Nano calls for Rashjari to remove the obstruction. However when he tries to, the boulder turned out to be a giant Stone Golem. A short fight ensued, unable to beat the creature Nano knocks it off of the path and into the the anti-gravity field. The two continue onward, but soon are greeted by Garjulaz. He did not seem to want to fight this time. The dragon decided to follow Nano on his journey for awhile. As they walk, Garjulaz explains that all he has done to him was not his own will, and that he must obey another will. Also it seems that he looks forward to the time Nano finally kills him. After awhile, more demon hunters show up and Garjulaz departs to let Nano deal with them. Despite being out numbers and having more advanced fighters, they were no match for Nano and Rashjari. Continuing on, Nano and Nilmurasi soon discover a Abyssal Cartel stronghold blocking the way. Nilmurasi suggests that they find a way around without being noticed. Aura suggests that they fly around the castle and tells him not to fly over out of risk of being spotted. Nano decides to fly under the castle, this is when he learns that Nilmurasi has a fear of heights. Once he makes it past the castle, they take a short rest due to the amount of exertion Nano went through. Picking up the trail, the two eventually come to the end of the road. It was a large island with rubble spread throughout. Using his monocle, Nano discovers that there is a large gate in the center of the island. They soon go through the gate, finding themselves on a lone island in the center of a vast lake surrounded by huge mountains. Nilmurasi feels that she has been here before, calling the node Lake Garulis. There was also an old man fishing on the end of a small pier. The old man seemed to know a familiar tune that Nano somehow knew. Despite this oddity, Nilmurasi convinced Nano to continue on. They eventually find a cave on the other side of the island. Inside Nano finds two unlit braziers. Lighting them using Flaming Touch, a strange sound played and a gate appears on the wall between the braziers. Entering the gate, the two find themselves in a colorful void of stone branches called Trails of Lost Mana. Unable to call Silvas to scout for them, Nilmurasi urges Nano to rest and takes off to scout the area. While waiting for Nilmurasi to return, Nano sees a young girl going down a path. He follows her until he reaches a dead end with two totems and an unstable gate. Turning around to go back, he is surprised by the girl and falls off the path. Hanging on for dear life, Nano is helped up by the unusually strong girl. Nano thanks her and returns to the spot he was waiting at. Expecting the girl to follow her, he was surprised that she disappeared when he turned his back. When Nano returned, he found Nilmurasi waiting for him as she had found the next gate. When the two enter the gate, they find waiting for them a dreadfully hot node called Hellfire Canyon. Nilmurasi didn't seem to take this well and soon collapsed from the heat. Nano manages to find shelter at an Inn in an abandoned village. Later that night, Nilmurasi recovers and attempts to get intimate with Nano... However it appeared that it wasn't the Nilmurasi that he knew as the real one bashes the imposter with a table leg. The imposter dies and turns to dust. Later during the night, the girl from before appears and attempts to rape Nano. Unable to fight her physically, he was able to convince her to stop. Nano then learns that this girl's name is Gina and was the one trapped inside that artifact he found at Makihel's Tower. After a night of restless sleep, morning comes and with it the extreme heat. Nano decides to try and find shade in the lower part of the canyon. Eventually he comes to a small pool of water. Investigating it, he finds that the pool is actually acid as he burned his finger tips. Further down the canyon at the end was a cave. The two enter the cave to find that it is cool and refreshing compared to outside. However Nano soon finds that they are not alone as a strange insect called a Waterbug appears. The two manage to chase it off after injuring it. They soon enter a larger area of the cavern. Slipping on a patch of slime, Nano plummets down into a large pool of freezing cold water. Fearing what could be under him, he takes off using Aura's wings. As Nano flies up, a large eyeless fish jumps up at him. After a bit of thought, Nano decides to leave the cave and take the upper path outside in the canyon. After some trouble with Nilmurasi collapsing again, he makes it to a pair of marble pillars. Seeing with the monocle, there appeared to be a locked door with a spherical slot in it. Not having the needed object, Nano backtracks all the way back to the cave with Nilmurasi in tow. Letting her rest at the entrance, Nano leaves Silvas to protect her while he explores the depths of the cave. Returning to where Nano fell into the pool, he calls Rashjari to take care of the fish in there. After frying the fish, Rashjari takes it to where Nilmurasi is resting. Once the threat was gone, Nano jumps back down into the pool and walks through an opening on the end of the cave. The further in Nano went, the more he finds himself entering a nest of Waterbugs. After fighting several of them, he finally makes it to a large cavernous area with a pond at the center. There waiting for him was a pedestal with a round object on it that seemed to generate water. When Nano tries to retrieve the orb, he finds himself under attack by a deadly Water Devourer. After a short scuffle, he calls for Rashjari who makes short work of it, but not before falling himself. Damaged, Rashjari reverts back to a cracked spellstone. From the corpse of the devourer, Nano finds a brilliant blue egg inside. It soon hatches, revealing another shard of his soul: Undine. After he meets Undine, Nano collects the orb and heads back to the entrance. After they had some fish that Rashjari had cooked up for them, the two left for the gate. It wasn't as hot as before because of the passive aura that Undine creates when she is in material form. Eventually they make it back to the gate with no trouble. Placing the orb into the slot of the door, dark clouds form overhead, signifying approaching rain. Entering the gate, they find themselves in a dark void with a long path made of marble platforms that seemed to shuffle on predetermined paths. Before they started down the path, Kalcoria appears and starts to fight with another whale-like creature of the Sun element. Not being able to help, Nano and Nilmurasi ignores the fighting for now. Going through the path, Nano sees two paths. The right leading down the main path and the left going up several platforms. Deciding to investigate, Nano climbs up the left path until he reaches a platform with spike traps on it. Nilmurasi decides to stay back while Nano climbs up. Then after passing a teetering platform, he finally makes it to a stable platform with a big chest on it. Opening the chest, Nano is greeted by the sight of a dead man inside. He was clutching a round object in his hand, but Nano was suspicious of this situation. Instead of taking the object himself, he called Silvas to try and take the object with his vines. The chest turned out to be a Mimic. After defeating it, Nano finds the Thunderbolt spellstone, a mysterious bag of beans, and a equally mysterious bag of gold dust in it's remains. Continuing on through the path of platforms, the two come to a large platform that seemed like a dead end. Looking through the Monocle, Nano sees that there are two sealed gates. Then a voice called out to him, saying that Nilmurasi must leave the platform. When she does, the voice issues a challenge to Nano for one on one combat to "prove" himself. Agreeing to the challenge, a suit of shining armor raises from the floor of the platform and their battle begins. After a couple of spells and attacks, Nano defeats the armor using a unique tactic in which molten glass from the armor's Sand Blast and his Flaming Touch forced his Devil Slayer Whip Sword to stay extended, effectively turning it into a lance. When the battle ends, Nano is rewarded with the path opening up, access to the node Holy Knight Splendor, and his choice of Sand Blast, Gale Fury, or an awakening of a secret power within him. Nano chose the secret power and chose the shadow aspect of the power. This is when Luna regains her human form and in appreciation, Luna gives him the Shadows Embrace spell. Continuing on their journey, the two of them head through the left gate into the node Sea of Dead Coral. Nilmurasi doesn't approve of this place, and wishes to traverse it as quick as possible. They make their way through a winding passage through the dead coral, coming to a small open area that had swaying kelp as if it was still under water. Here they encounter three Stone Crabs. There was two paths laid out before them. One path lead North while the other to the West. Not knowing which way to go, Nano had Silvas send out a couple of scouting birds. While they waited for the birds to return, Nano decided to have a conversation about his past life... This is when he learns that whenever he talks about something he can't know, it causes great strain on his mind. Eventually one of the birds return. The north passage was a dead end, but my have something there worth investigating. The other bird never returned, meaning that the western path may contain something dangerous. Deciding to take the north passage for now, the two eventually run into a Bone Eel. It was a weak opponent and fell easily. Arriving at the aforementioned dead end, Nano sees an ancient Bonsai planted in the middle of a patch of grass. Under the tree was a small Japanese shrine with an offering plate and two black candles. Nano decides to offer a couple of Marrs and lights the two black candles. Nano then hears a small voice that says his prayers have been answers. Nilmurasi however did not hear this voice. After finishing here, the two head back to the area with the kelp. Once there they head towards the western path. This is when they hear a distant roar of a beast. Following the path, Nano eventually sees a large skeletal dragon flying about. The two managed to get to a larger, salt filled area without being noticed. Using a combination of Luna and Shadows Embrace, they managed to sneak by towards the southwest path. Following the path, they soon hear the sound of waterfalls... Once they reached the end of the path, the find themselves on the edge of a cliff, with several salt falls off in the distance. Nilmurasi was fed up with all the salt and yelled in annoyance, despite the dragon flying around. Returning to the large open area, they find that the dragon is nowhere to be found and that a large round object was now half submerged in the salt. Deciding to ignore it for now, Nano continues up the northeast path. This is when they find that the object is following them, but only when they aren't looking. Nano then has Undine sit on his shoulder, watching behind them so that the object didn't move. Eventually they come to another fork, Nano decides to go southeast. they soon come to a dead end where they find a group of snowman-like sculptures of salt. After some strange occurrences, they try to leave the area. However the 'saltmen' block the path. Having Undine spray water on them, Nano learns that the saltmen melted into acid puddles. Flying over the puddles and returning to the fork, Nano sees the round object from before blocking his path. He decides to fly over it and down the North path, however when he does, he finds himself attacked from behind. Aura was damaged greatly and can't be called out. The object turned out to be very much alive and was after Nano the entire time as food. After a long fight, the two managed to defeat the creature and continue on their way. They soon come to an opening with two black columns and a door sitting in the center of them. Upon opening the door, they find themselves pulled in with great force. Upon waking, Nano finds that Nilmurasi is nowhere to be found and that he was on a slimy floating island next to a huge, fleshy tree. Nano then summons Silvas to send out scouts. However he appeared to be rotting, along with the birds he summoned. When asked about it, Silvas mentions that he feels fine, and that something may be altering his perception. Climbing to the next branch via carved out platforms in the tree, Nano finds a nest at the end of the branch. Inside the sticky, nasty nest was a beautiful golden egg adorned with jewels. After inspecting the mysterious egg, a large boney bird with tattered feathers lands at the other end of the nest. The bird seems friendly and lets Nano know that she saw a figure that may be Nilmurasi further up the tree. The bird tried to introduce herself, but quickly learns that Nano is under the effects of a redaction spell. She then tells him to call her Fjori. The bird then explains to Nano why it is that her real name would be blocked from his mind. Fjori was once the messenger for his people, but now they are all gone because of a great war of mutual destruction. Nano then asks her why it is that he sees things differently than Silvas. To which Fjori explains that it is the ghosts here that make him see what he sees. Touching a wing to him, Fjori places a protection spell on Nano. This allows him to see the world the way it was meant to be, and that Fjori was a beautiful Golden Falcon. Nano then leaves after thanking her and saying goodbye. Continuing up the three, Nano comes to a tunnel in the tree trunk. Inside the tunnel he comes to a fork, forward leading outside and left into the darkness. Here he meets a creature who was half human, half spider. At first she attacked him in an attempt to eat him. However Nano managed to convince her to stop attacking. Nano gains the side-quest Along Came A Spider. Eventually she introduces herself as Ashari and is convinced to help him find Nilmurasi. Ashari takes Nano on her back, to expedite his journey up the tree. After climbing several branches up, they make it to where Nilmurasi was located. There they find her being absorbed by a Malar Ent. Nano manages to defeat the creature and save Nilmurasi, who is now quite lethargic. When Nano mentions that they are looking for a gate, Ashari tells him that there is a gate all the way down at the roots of the tree. Once again on Ashari's back, she takes Nano and Nilmurasi all the way down to the root that has the gate on it. The three of them enter the gate to find themselves in The Makers Compass. When they arrived, Aura awakes in pain. Nano finds out that she has been heavily damaged by that previous attack back in Sea of Dead Coral. Deciding to explore the area, Nano discovers a door that was similar to the one he found in the Forest of Autumn. When opening the door, he sees a lush forest that was indeed the Forest of Autumn. Nano and Nilmurasi decided to return home for the mean time. They decided to head for Makihel's Tower. Upon arriving, the two are greeted with Makihel bursting out of his top window in his demon form with a black demon giving chase. Nano chases after them, eventually arriving at a cave where he hears the sound of combat. Sneaking in with the use of Shadows Embrace, he kills the assaulting demon almost instantly. Makihel passes out from his wound, Nano carries him out of the cave and patches him up using Nature's Gift. Nilmurasi finally catches up to them, concerned for her brother's safety. Makihel then tells them that the demon was an assassin in the employ of the Abyssal Cartel. He also tells them that they had killed Mae and stole her heart. Nilmurasi was in shock at this point, shocked that someone would kill such a young girl for reasons unknown. Enraged by this, Nano vows to take care of this and then takes off for the Forest of Autumn to retrieve Ashari. He was forced to leave Nilmurasi behind with Makihel due to her not being able to move. For the mean time, their long journey to help Marco will have to be put on hold...